Article Title

Authors

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an opportunistic pathogen that is resistant to many broad and narrow-spectrum antibiotics commonly used in the treatment of S. aureus. There has been much fanfare about MRSA, receiving nicknames like “superbug” because of its varying degrees of resistance to the most common broad and narrow-spectrum antibiotics such as penicillin, oxacillin, methicillin and amoxicillin (2). The reality, however, is that MRSA is still susceptible to certain antibiotics and can be treated effectively. This study displays the factors which help and hurt MRSA treatments. There is shown a strong link between the prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics and the increase of MRSA infections, likely due to the inhibition of normal flora by these antibiotics. This link is exemplified in the comparing of Sweden and the United States; countries with similar colonization rates but very different prevalence rates for MRSA (6). The United States prescribes more broad-spectrum antibiotics and has a much higher MRSA infection rate than Sweden (7). Information on Syria has been provided in this study as the colonization rate of MRSA there is very high and future research should focus on how to prevent upticks in infections as more Syrian refugees move to countries like Sweden (4).